The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the War on Terror

Following the 9/11 attacks, America shifted its focus in the War on Terror towards homegrown terrorism, which intensified after the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Using global sources, Kundnani, a visiting fellow at Leiden University (Netherlands), sees the same counter-terror tactics developed by the Bush Administration now employed by his successor, monitoring Muslim citizens and residents, and using informants and double agents to keep tabs on those who might share an ideology with jihadists. Noting several European terror triumphs, Kundnani aptly examines the four stages of evolution towards jihadism%E2%80%94"preradicalization, identification, indoctrination, and action"%E2%80%94now monitored by big-budgeted international security agencies watching lone wolves and sleeper cells before any eruption. In America and England, Kundnani identifies bands of young Muslims rethinking their identities in the wake of society revoking "their social white card": being treated like blacks, suffering hate crimes, and losing civil liberties. He also analyzes similarly critical topics, such as police entrapment, state surveillance, dissent and extremism, fear and suspicion in Muslim communities, and the right to assembly. Measuring his ideas against global terror experts, Kundnani offers hard alternatives to international security agencies, policing trends, and options for reasonable dissent in his thoughtful, rational plea to curb the War on Terror. (Mar.)